Chapter V

LE SARS—CAPPY
_September 1916 to March 1917_

We spent a week at Bus, before taking over trenches in front of Beaumont-Hamel, The Battalion held these trenches for four days, without any incident worthy of mention. The line here had not moved forward during the Somme fighting, as the attack on July 1 had failed in that sector, and no subsequent one had been delivered.

We had considered ourselves a little ill used in not being taken back and given a proper rest, with the chance to refit after our recent exertions, so our delight was great when, after spending a night or two in Mailly-Maillet and a day in the Bois de Warnimont, we were moved back to Beauval on September 11.

It was not the first time we had been in Beauval, and the Battalion was becoming increasingly popular in that part of the town in which our billets lay. As a billeting area, it was an ideally proportioned place, holding without much difficulty an entire Brigade of Infantry. There were good billets, good mess-rooms and a few shops, and the town lay within easy reach of Doullens, where the shops were good. But the training facilities were bad, as the land was a mass of crops, which we had strict orders not to damage.

During the week we spent here, in addition to considerable drafts of men, we received a reinforcement of no less than thirteen officers of the Essex Regiment, who nearly all reported on the same day. The arrival of all these officers, belonging to another regiment, was, it must be admitted, something of a shock to us. The more credit to them then, when within a very few days we realised we had struck oil and been sent a most excellent batch of officers, many of whom afterwards greatly distinguished themselves, both in and out of action.

After a week at Beauval, on September 19 the Battalion moved to Berneuil, some nine miles distant, where the training area was decidedly better, though the billets were not so good. Intensive training was the order of the day, to such an extent indeed that many were only too glad to be inoculated and get forty-eight hours off duty.

On September 30 a twenty-mile march took us to Coullemont, and, after another move two days later to St. Amand, we found ourselves once again in the Hébuterne trenches on October 5. They had changed but little, though our disappointment was very great on finding that all the old familiar names of trenches in the K sector had been scrapped and new ones, all starting with the letter Y, substituted.

Rumour was rife that an attack was to be made on Gommecourt, and indeed with excellent reason, for everything pointed to something of the kind taking place at no very distant date. Orders for the attack soon made their appearance, and on October 7 we were taken out of the line and sent back to Souastre, about three miles behind, for a final “fatten up.” Those who took part in that short march will not easily forget the scene that the road presented. It was one endless stream of horse and motor transport, moving up with every imaginable article on board. But, after all this material had been brought up, and everything appeared to be in readiness, the attack was postponed, and we were sent still farther back to the village of Warlencourt. Here practice attacks of all kinds were exercised until about the middle of the month, when the Gommecourt attack was definitely given up and all orders cancelled.

This wandering about from place to place, spending a few days and sometimes only a few hours in each, was becoming a little tiresome, and we were not altogether sorry to find ourselves back in the line at the beginning of November, having spent the remainder of October in Warluzel, Talmas and La Houssoye. The part of the line to which we were sent, namely Martinpuich and Le Sars, proved, however, anything but pleasant; in fact, for a sector which was not taking part in active operations, it was the most miserable one the Battalion ever occupied.

From all sides, our line was under the most complete observation by the enemy—from Loupart Wood, Irles, the Butte de Warlencourt and other places, and this observation extended several miles behind the line. The trenches themselves were full of water and falling in; the ground all round them was pitted with shell-holes, which also had filled with water, whilst every track was deep in glutinous mud. Movement in the dark was a nightmare, for it was impossible to struggle twenty yards without falling into a shell-hole, getting soaked through and plastered with mud. Ration-carrying parties, which had to manhandle the rations for almost a mile over this kind of ground, had the most bitter experiences; there were no landmarks, and men frequently lost themselves for a whole night. To add to our difficulties, the enemy shelling, particularly at night, was extremely heavy. His opportunities for observation by day enabled him to mark down all the tracks which our reliefs and carrying parties were in the habit of using by night, and to shell them accordingly. He succeeded in making Le Sars quite uninhabitable, by shelling it for the greater part of the day and night, so that, as the place was of no tactical importance (the line running some half-mile in front), it was left severely alone. Destremont Farm, or rather the remains of it, which lay behind Le Sars, received the same attention; but it contained two large cellars which no shells could touch, and in these we quartered two platoons by day. This was the only semblance of accommodation in the sector, and even Battalion Headquarters had to be content with eight steps of a shaft of an incomplete mined dugout, started by the Germans and consequently facing the wrong way. These steps our Headquarters continued to occupy, for lack of a “better ’ole,” even after a shell had landed in the entrance, blocking it up, and imprisoning the Commanding Officer, the Adjutant and Intelligence officers. Fortunately for them a meal happened to be long overdue, and the batman who brought it discovered them in this plight.

The strain and exhaustion of the Battalion, especially when holding the front line, were extreme, and the greatest difficulties were experienced by company commanders, struggling to make out written reports at night and endeavouring to prevent the appearance of “trench-foot” in their companies.

FRONT LINE COY. H.Q., LE SARS.
]

Reliefs varied, but on the average the Battalion were in the habit of doing three days in the front trenches, three days in support trenches and three days “at rest.” Rest, so called, but which one never found. The camps lay round Contalmaison, and most unpleasant they were. The enemy knew their location exactly, and shot at them with unerring precision, usually having his greatest “hate” between midnight and 2 a.m., when a little sleep was helping us to forget, temporarily, the vileness of it all. A camp of huts known as Acid Drop Camp used to catch the worst of the shelling, and two huts received direct hits at night whilst we were in occupation. In the other camps we were under canvas, chilled to the marrow in cold November nights.

During the periods spent “at rest,” working parties were practically continuous; as many as 200 men had often to be found by day and the same number (if our strength allowed it) by night. Casualties were abnormally heavy, considering the fact that no active operations were undertaken, but the Battalion dealt most successfully with the trench-foot problem, having only one case up to the end of December.

Our transport in this area was quartered close to Bécourt, which lay some three miles behind Contalmaison, amongst a mass of old disused trenches, surrounded by a sea of mud. The conditions under which the transport lived, consequently, were miserable in the extreme, and it was due largely to the never-failing energy of the transport officer, Captain J. B. Hill, who organised the erection of standings for the horses and shelters for the men, that living was made possible.

At this time there had been no leave open for some four months, so that the survivors of the Somme fighting were getting pretty well worn out, but after six weeks in the sector, the Division was relieved, and moved back to Bécourt, where a fortnight, including Christmas Day, was spent. Officers and men alike were determined to enjoy themselves thoroughly on this day, despite the very unfavourable conditions, and it speaks highly of the Quartermaster’s branch that every man had a good whack of turkey with chestnut stuffing and vegetables.

On December 28 the Battalion moved about six miles west to the village of Bresle, where the Brigade was inspected on January 6, 1917, by Lieutenant-General Pulteney, commanding the IIIrd Corps.

A further move to Heilly took place on January 9, where we entrained at 3.30 a.m. for Oisemont, arriving there at 12 noon. Here we were billeted in two small country villages, half a mile apart, A and B Companies being in Forceville, and Battalion Headquarters, C and D Companies, and the transport in Neuville. For three weeks most valuable training was carried out, and sports and games greatly encouraged. In the latter the Battalion distinguished itself by winning the Brigade football competition, the Brigade cross-country steeplechase, and the majority of events in the boxing competition. The weather was good during the whole of this time, though a certain amount of snow fell.

On January 29 the Battalion entrained at Oisemont, preparatory to taking over a new area from the French south of the Somme. The detrainment was carried out at Cerisy, after nearly twelve hours’ travelling in icy cold trucks. After spending three days at Hamel, we marched on February 2 to Cappy, taking over what was known as Camp 56, on the Cappy-Eclusier road, from a reserve battalion of the French. The few days we had here were occupied in reconnoitring the new forward area, and vainly endeavouring to extract a little heat from the French stoves which had been left in the huts.

So long as the frost lasted the trenches in this area were excellent, probably the best we had yet seen, but with the thaw, which made its appearance towards the end of February, their condition became very bad. The greatest possible precautions had once more to be taken to prevent “trench-foot.” Arrangements were made for washing every man’s feet in a special solution before the Battalion went into the line, and when in the line, for rubbing the feet and supplying every man with a dry pair of socks every twenty-four hours. Annoying as these precautions were to carry out at the time, it must be said that the result fully justified them, for we had only one further case of trench-foot during the remainder of the winter, whereas many battalions suffered severely from this disease.

The trenches held by the Division crossed the river Somme and faced Péronne, half of the little village of Biaches being just included in our line. The sector was a quiet one, and the only missile used by the enemy which caused us any great inconvenience when we first took over, was one known as a “blue pigeon.” It was a particularly effective form of mortar, which made a sort of shrill whistle as it proceeded through the air and caused us a considerable number of casualties.

Duration of tours in the trenches here was irregular, and the varying portions of the line held by the Battalion are well illustrated by the different elements of the whole of the 143rd Brigade to whom we handed over when we were relieved on February 9.

Two left platoons on the Somme handed over to 1/8th Battalion Royal
Warwickshire Regiment;

Two right platoons on the Somme to 1/7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire
Regiment;

Garrison of Tr. Iglau and Battalion Headquarters to 1/5th Battalion
Royal Warwickshire Regiment;

Two platoons in Tr. Désirée to 1/6th Battalion Royal Warwickshire
Regiment.

This relief occupied the whole night and did not proceed too smoothly, with the result that it was an irritated Commanding Officer who ordered Battalion Headquarters to move off just as daylight was appearing.

Towards the middle of February the Brigade took over the right of the Divisional line, north-east of the village of Barleux, which lay just inside the German lines. During the month that the Battalion took turns with the 7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment in holding these trenches, patrolling was very active, especially when it became known that the enemy was evacuating his trenches farther north and effecting an organised retreat to some line in rear. Shelling was heavy on both sides, and on March 10 occurred one of the most unlucky events that had yet befallen us. About 4 a.m. on this date, a gas shell, fired from a German _Minenwerfer_, landed and exploded inside the entrance of the A Company Headquarters’ dugout. There were at the time inside the dugout three officers (Captain J. D. B. Warwick, 2/Lieutenant S. Wiseman, 2/Lieutenant R. B. Cooper-Smith), C.S.M. Watts, two corporals, five orderlies, three signallers and four batmen. The first impression of those inside (presumably caused by the flash of the shell) appears to have been that the dugout was on fire, and a large dose of poison was inhaled before they adjusted their box respirators, while those who were asleep were killed without waking. Captain Warwick and 2/Lieutenant Wiseman, believing that a gas attack was taking place, together with their orderlies attempted to reach the front line, but the latter died just as he reached his platoon and the former not long after. The fate of the remaining occupants of the dugout was no less tragic, for, in spite of the utmost efforts to save them, the majority died within an hour of the bursting of the shell, and all were dead within six hours.

This sad event cannot be passed by without an allusion to No. 2535 Private Harry Topple, who was the company signaller on duty in the dugout at the time when the shell burst. Being under the impression that a gas attack was taking place, he refused to leave his post, and continued to endeavour to obtain communication with Battalion Headquarters, until forcibly dragged away by a rescue party half an hour later. He died in the trenches near the dugout about 7 a.m. the same day. By remaining at his post, this very gallant man undoubtedly sacrificed his own life in the hope of saving others.

Two days after this D Company were severely shelled in Flaucourt, which was the position of the reserve company, and suffered a number of casualties.

Our rest billets were usually Camp 56 at Cappy; this occasioned a long and weary march, usually taking place in the middle of the night, after a six days’ tour in the line with a very inadequate ration of sleep. It was in this camp that we received news—about March 17—that patrols sent out by the Brigades holding the line had reported the enemy trenches opposite to be unoccupied. The retirement on our front had begun.